


Halcyon Days

by Hodgeheg002



Series: All The Best [5]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: ...whump?, Allusions to non explicit smut, M/M, Road Trip, Route 66 - Freeform, fluff...?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29880600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hodgeheg002/pseuds/Hodgeheg002
Summary: “So you’ll run away to go on a crazy road trip with me?”“Baby, I’d go to the end of the world and beyond with you.”*****Alan and Brandon take a road trip across America together.
Relationships: Brandon Berrenger/Alan Tracy
Series: All The Best [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876195
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Halcyon Days

Holidays weren’t all that easy to come by when one was a member of International Rescue. It wasn’t that they were never allowed time off, but disasters never slot themselves into tidy schedules that could be worked around, particularly when the size of the organisation was taken into account. For a rescue operation whose jurisdiction covered the entire planet, and a good bit above it as well, it was astonishing that there were only eight operatives, even more so when two of them were technically freelance.

Alan was acutely aware of this, having spent most of his time at college knowing that there was a delicate balance taking place back at home as his brothers worked to cover his duties. His family didn’t mind, had made it expressly clear that they  _ wanted  _ Alan to have as normal a college experience as possible, firmly eschewing any suggestion of distance learning, but still. When Alan graduated he didn't follow in the footsteps of some of his coursemates, off to travel the world and have one last adventure before settling down into jobs and careers and ‘proper’ adulthood. Instead, he had gone back to Tracy Island and Thunderbird Three, sliding back into his previous life only with the addition of a BSc and a boyfriend.

Except- and there’s always an exception,  _ always _ \- he and Brandon  _ had  _ discussed a vacation. It had always seemed to vaguely exist in the realm of a pipe dream, something they talked about late at night when everything was sleepy and soft, curled around each other in either one of their tiny single beds in first year or later in  _ their  _ bed in  _ their  _ apartment. Gentle, murmured discussions about what it would be like to just pack up and go, to take a roadtrip and lose themselves in the kind of oxymoronic mundane adventure that a roadtrip across America would offer, and they both secretly craved.

It was meant to just stay there, in that hazy period just before they fell asleep and time was suspended, but when they graduated, Alan moving back to the Island and Brandon following, the thought started creeping into their daily thoughts and routines. At least as much as they could be considered to have a routine, given that one was ruled by emergencies and the other by a vlogging regime, both of which involved jetting off at a moment’s notice. Spontaneity ruled their lives.

But Alan found his thoughts drifting towards the idea more and more, the odd comment worming its way into conversations held at all times of the day, not restricted to when they were drifting off. Comments such as ‘when we go on our trip we should make sure the car is red’, and ‘I saw an article about this great diner in Arizona, we should stop off on our trip’. Small, slightly careless comments that Alan didn’t think would ever be realised, but couldn’t stop himself from making regardless. It wasn’t so much a hint that he was expecting the almost pipe dream to grow into something that could be realised, but more of a way to say to Brandon, ‘look, I love you, I want to plan a future with you’. 

Still, it maybe should not have been as big a surprise as it was when Brandon turned to him on the morning of his birthday, his tablet in hand. It was early morning, too early to really be up, but Alan’s sleep schedule was always a bit muddled when he crashed after back to back rescues and anyway, there was something so special about spending the early morning with Brandon in their bed, sleepy and comfortable, legs tangled together.

“Happy birthday,” Brandon said softly, pressing a kiss to Alan’s lips and giving him the tablet.

“What’s this?” Alan asked, smiling into the kiss. Brandon pulled back, one hand drawing lazy trails up and down Alan’s arm.

“Your present.”

Alan quirked an eyebrow up but switched on the tablet, confused for a moment until he read the email that was displayed on the screen, confirming the booking of a car for a cross country trip in America.

“What…”

“For our roadtrip. I checked with your Dad and Scott, it’s all good. We can take a couple of weeks off in May. Just… I know that we’ve always talked about it and you seemed really set on the idea. I haven’t done too much, just booked the car, but yeah. Thought it would be fun to plan together.”   
  


Brandon trailed off, watching Alan’s face carefully. Alan was speechless for a moment, scanning through the document quickly before going back to the start and re-reading it again, this time more slowly, this time taking in the details. The car was booked for them to pick up in a month’s time in Michigan, with a drop off point in California, but apart from that there was very little detail. That didn’t matter, though; what mattered was that Brandon wanted to go on the trip as much as Alan did, that they would have this chance at a mundane adventure that they had been chasing ever since starting college. That they would be able to have this adventure together.

Alan swallowed heavily before pulling Brandon in for another kiss, this time deeper, trying to pour all the sudden emotion he was feeling into it. 

“I love it,” he murmured, feeling Brandon chuckle beneath him.

“So you’ll run away to go on a crazy road trip with me?”

“Baby, I’d go to the end of the world and beyond with you.”

***

The next four weeks were a whirlwind of planning squeezed into the time they had off together in between the usual chaos of their lives. Most nights their room was littered with projections of maps marked up with all the places they wanted to see. They had already picked the route, had decided long ago that if they ever did go on the road trip they would follow the old Route 66, travelling with a detour to Las Vegas and a second to Kansas so that Alan could show Brandon where he and his brothers had lived before International Rescue had existed properly, before they had moved to the Island and their dad had been lost in space. Alan barely remembered their Kansas home, if he was being honest, hadn’t been back there since the very early days of his childhood, but it was still where he was born even if it wasn’t where he had been raised.He had never quite been able to articulate why it was so important he show it to Brandon, but Brandon had never pressed him for a reason. 

Despite the vague route being planned already, Alan hadn’t quite anticipated how much  _ more  _ planning would be necessary, what with the motel bookings and finding campsites and making sure that they had all the necessary documentation. John and Scott had always handled the legal aspects of International Rescue, keeping tabs on their Space Operations Licences and sitting down with lawyers for hours and hours hashing out the various treaties needed in order to be able to fly into any jurisdiction. Alan had been aware that the paperwork involved in maintaining an organisation as complex as IR was immense, but he hadn’t appreciated just how much planning was involved until he and Brandon sat down to plan the road trip. Most of it was left to Brandon, if Alan was being honest; Brandon was used to planning trips, did it often enough with work that it was almost second nature by now. 

Still. Alan tried to help, and Brandon indulged him with a soft smile and the occasional eye roll. 

“We should fly commercial,” Brandon said one night, when they had finally put away all of the lists and maps and gone to bed. Alan rolled over to face him, reaching out to tuck a curl behind Brandon’s ear.

“I’m sure Scott won’t mind dropping us off,” he said quietly, stretching his legs out to tangle with Brandon’s.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t. We should still fly commercial.”   
  


“Why?”

“It’s part of the adventure.”

It was said so simply, so softly and heartfelt, that Alan didn’t even hesitate in nodding.

“Okay.”

“‘Okay’? You, the biggest speed freak, adrenaline junkie I know, are agreeing to fly slowly just like that when you have a supersonic jet available?”

“Like you said. It’s part of the adventure. Should book the tickets soon though.”   
  


“We can do it in the morning?” Brandon suggested, and Alan nodded, snuggling more deeply into Brandon’s arms.

“Morning sounds good.”

They ended up booking the tickets two days later, Alan called away for a mission before their alarm had even gone off, but that didn’t matter. The tickets were booked, and three weeks later they were packing and heading off to Sydney.

***

Alan hated the airport, or rather the time they had to  _ arrive  _ at the airport, burrowing his face into the soft fabric of Brandon’s hoodie whilst they waited for their flight to be called, and Brandon was so jet lagged when they landed in Chicago that they had to book an extra night at their hotel so he could re-adjust his internal body clock, but neither of them could keep the giddy grins from their faces. There was something so satisfying about starting their trip properly, being off the Island and travelling just the two of them, back like it was during college and they had the time to take one of their random bus trips. They hadn’t happened very often, but they were still some of the best days of Alan’s life. Brandon had always managed to find the strangest possible activities and places for them to go to, bordering on an obsession, and those days had always been filled with laughter and love, just the two of them. 

The weather was just the right side of warm and it was no time at all before the two of them built up a good tan, the roof of the car left down whilst they drove in an attempt to keep cool. For Alan, it was no different to being on the Island except with maybe less humidity, but Brandon had always been more fair. Each day before they started he would slather on the sun cream, Alan teasing him all the while about his delicate skin, but in truth there was nothing more beautiful to Alan than watching Brandon when it was his turn to drive, the sun tanning him a liquid gold that was on its way to matching his eyes, his hair brightening each day. It was captivating, framed by the landscape that they drove through, and Alan stared unabashedly when it was his turn to be the passenger. Once, as they headed into Kansas just before they were due to stop for lunch and switch roles, Brandon looked across at him. Alan’s gaze didn’t flinch and the witty remark died on Brandon’s tongue, forever unuttered, in favour of a soft, blinding smile that caused Alan’s breath to hitch.

Kansas was strange for Alan, and they didn’t linger. He had thought that when they crossed the state line he would feel some sort of intrinsic sense of belonging, some kind of homecoming, and innate acknowledgment in his bones of the place where he was born. There was a slight flip in his stomach when they reached his hometown and found the cemetery where his mother had been buried, but there was nothing there for him to point at and go, ‘this was where I learnt to ride a bike’ or ‘this is where we used to buy ice cream as kids’. He didn’t say anything, but Brandon seemed to pick up on his unsettled mood, and so after leaving a bouquet of his mother’s favourite flowers- or at least, the flowers she was holding in the wedding picture of her and his father that was tucked away in the family albums and in his father’s room- on her grave, he pressed a kiss to Alan’s temple and towed him back to the car, arm wrapped around his waist. Alan was quiet for the rest of the day as Brandon drove them south, heading into Oklahoma, but that night he sought Brandon out, lips hot and touch hotter, whilst Brandon seared himself into Alan and held him close until morning.

Brandon played Tony Christie all the way through Texas, a song that was released before Alan’s dad had even been born. Alan would have thought it was Grandma Tracy who had introduced the song to Brandon, but the way it got stuck in Alan’s head had echoes of Gordon, especially considering that of all his brothers, it was Gordon who Brandon got on with the most. The two of them would spend more time than strictly necessary trying to coax each other into the most ridiculous of challenges that often left Alan rolling his eyes in the privacy of their bedroom later on whilst he called Brandon an idiot with an exasperated grin. He would have been tempted to call Brandon that now, if it wasn’t for the way Brandon was singing along, air mic and everything, sunshine smile fixed in place. Later, when they had stopped off to stock up on snacks, he snuck off and returned with a handful of bluebonnets, handing all but one to Alan which he tucked behind Alan’s ear.

“They match your eyes,” he said, expression sparkling, and Alan couldn’t help the small kiss he gave him in return.

***

As they drove further west into Arizona and New Mexico, the air seemed to become drier, the heat more arid. The landscape was spectacular, a world away from the wide open plains of Kansas with its never-ending fields. It was barren and rocky, scraggly bushes and prickly cacti forming the vegetation, so different from the previous states they had driven through and an alien planet compared to the humidity and lush scenery of Tracy Island, but Alan and Brandon loved it. It was a different kind of beauty, one that was full of deep gold and amber and copper, matching their tans and hair and smiles. At night, the temperature plummeted, and the two of them wrapped themselves around each other to keep themselves warm, pulling each other closer as if trying to make a physical representation of the way they had already carved a space for themselves in the other’s soul, so intrinsically merged after so long together that if you cut one of them open, it would be the other who would bleed.

They swung up into Nevada just before crossing the border into California, clouds billowing in their wake and the cherry sheen of the car muted by the dry dust that the desert kicked up as they drove. Las Vegas glittered up out of the desert like a great Faberge egg, twinkling against the pink sunset sky as they drove into the driveway of the hotel, both of them looking forward to a little luxury after days of motels and camping. 

The hotel was all marble and plush carpets so thick that Alan wanted to take off his shoes so he could feel his feet sinking into the pile, find out if it was as soft as it looked. He didn’t, instead tripping along the corridor pressed as tightly to Brandon as possible, following the bellhop down the identical white walled corridors with their golden light fixtures to their room.

“Here you are sirs, please let me know if you need any further assistance, or you can call down to the front desk if you need anything. You have a nice night, now,” the bellhop said, settling down their bags and bobbing his head before disappearing down the corridor. Alan turned to close the door and when he spun back around again, Brandon had already sprawled himself out over the bed, limbs star-fished across the white sheets.

“Comfy?” Alan teased, leaning against the door with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised in amusement. Brandon didn’t even open his eyes.

“Exceedingly. I think we need to ring down and ask what brand of mattress they use, we should get one for back home.”   
  


Alan snorted, pushing off the door to cross the room and join Brandon on the bed, only briefly indulging the flutter of butterflies he always felt when Brandon called the Island home, even after all this time.

He flopped down face first onto the bed beside Brandon, his arms stretched out to the side and face sinking into the pillow. It smelt of artificial lemon detergent and had the stiffness of professionally laundered linens, but despite the starchiness it was still slippery smooth against his cheek. He heard Brandon chuckle beside him, before circles and patterns were being traced into his back by Brandon’s fingertips.

“Comfy?” Brandon parroted back.

“I’m never moving again,” Alan declared, the pillow muffling his words.

“That’s a shame,” Brandon said, slipping his hand under Alan’s tee-shirt. Alan turned his head so that he could look at Brandon, who stared back at him, something mischievous and seductive glittering in his eyes.

“Or maybe not moving from this bed,” Alan clarified, and Brandon rolled onto his side so that his face was close to Alan’s to feel the soft puff of Brandon’s breath.

“That’s a better plan. I can think of a few activities that don’t require leaving the bed at all,” Brandon promised, voice low, and he kissed away any retort Alan may have come up with, pulling on Alan’s hip to bring them even closer. Alan went willingly, hands sinking into Brandon’s curls that would always feel softer than any luxury bed ever could, kissing him back just as deeply.

***

They stayed in Las Vegas for three days, wandering hand in hand up and down the strip, enjoying all the lights and decadence that the city had to offer before stumbling back to their hotel room and falling into the bed that was double the size of what they actually needed. On their last day there, they took one final stroll past the brightly coloured casinos, one last swim in the pool, before heading out just before dusk, the fire of the sun bleeding out into blues, pinks and purples as they drove out towards the Californian border in a mirror of the same sunset they arrived in.

They hadn’t, really, intended to leave so late, but Brandon had wanted one last ‘proper’ meal before they returned to their roadtrip diet of snacks and junk food, and Alan had napped longer than he had meant to in the deckchair by the pool, with a slightly sunburnt nose as a result, but the next stop was only a few hours away and they couldn’t be lenient with the itinerary, given that Alan had a tight deadline as to when he had to return to duty and Brandon had several meetings with Lemaire scheduled for when they returned.

Brandon clicked something on his phone, throwing Alan a sideways grin just before the car was filled with the cheesiest of pop music, the sort of music Brandon used when he wanted to dance and sing and make Alan roll his eyes fondly before joining in the two person party. Alan glanced over, biting back a laugh as Brandon waggled his eyebrows, mouthing along to the words exaggeratedly, before looking back to the road again just in time for the world to tilt and shatter.

The car rolled, Alan rolling with it, the seatbelt stopping him from smacking his head on the dashboard but not on the door frame.

The air was thick and it was difficult to breathe, but Alan could taste the copper tang of blood and maybe it was a broken nose making it hard to breathe rather than the air.

Glass sliced through his skin like knives, lodging deeply into his arms and thigh, and the night was cool on his skin where it seeped in through the smashed windshield.

All Alan could think of was Brandon, the name echoing in a loop in his mind and cutting through any other thought or sensation, preventing Alan from being able to process anything else.

Then everything went dark.

**Author's Note:**

> ... :D
> 
> I aim to have the second part uploaded on 12th March but my brain has no concept of when Alan’s birthday actually is and I am unsure how much time I’ll actually have to write this week with work being so busy, but it is half written sooo maybe I’ll manage it?
> 
> There is also a playlist to go with this fic! It kinda has spoilers for the next part so I’ll link it in the next chapter buuuut it’s a playlist I am actually kind of proud of for once so will post 😬 also the song Brandon was singing in Texas is “Amarillo”. It is not on the playlist, I don’t need that ear worm. Also John showed it to a Brandon, not Gordon or GT😂


End file.
